Armenians in China organize Genocide centennial events

April 27, 2015 By administrator

The Armenian Community of China organized a landmark series of cultural and artistic events in cities across China, to mark the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide. These events, held in Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai during the weekend of April 24-25, shared the Armenian history, art and culture with the Chinese people on a historic occasion.

The highlight of the weekend was the main gathering in Nanjing,which was chosen in solidarity with China, as it was in Nanjing that Japanese troops massacred hundreds of thousands of Chinese during the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. As with the Armenian Genocide, it is an event that still goes unrecognized by its perpetrators.

In the Exhibition Hall of the Art Institute of Nanjing, celebrated Armenian painter Sevada Grigoryan presented his collection entitled “Awakening.” The opening ceremony started with the sounds of Duduk, Vahe Der-Hovakimian performed Dle Yaman, which is considered to be the symbol of the Armenian Genocide In parallel, Michael Hayrapetyan, a talented pianist and associate professor at the Moscow University of Art and Culture, performed at the Concert Hall of the Nanjing Institute of Art. His musical piece, “The Secrets of Armenia,” was inspired by the work of classical Armenian composers.

“It is a big honor to share our musical history with our Chinese friends,” said Hayrapetyan, who resides in China and regularly performs for Chinese audiences.

The musical performance was followed by an evening of remembrance, during which Chinese and Armenian guests shared their family histories. The documentary “The River Ran Red” by Mickayel Hakobian, which was recently translated into Chinese for the first time, was shown to the attendees.

“It was a very touching evening and reinforced the solidarity between the Armenian and Chinese,” said Lee Yen, a resident of Nanjing.

One day before, on April 24 an Armenian cultural evening, dedicated to the remembrance of the Armenian Genocide, was held in the prestigious Bund area of Shanghai. An audience of both Chinese and Armenian attendees enjoyed a performance of classical music and Armenian dance, as well as an art exhibition of works by Chinese students inspired by the events of the Armenian Genocide.

“Our goal was to share with our Chinese friends our rich artistic history, while highlighting the common threads of our two ancient cultures,” said Astghik Poghosyan, an accomplished Armenian violinist. Poghosyan has studied in China for five years and regularly performs on Chinese television. The evening concluded with a candle lighting ceremony in remembrance of the 1.5 million Armenians who were systematically massacred by the Ottoman Turks in 1915.

That same night the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia in Beijing hosted renowned documentary filmmaker Ruben Giney, a resident of China since 2004. Giney presented his latest award-winning documentary, entitled “Andin: Armenian Journey Chronicles.” The film recounts the long history of Armenians in China and the historical links between the two civilizations.

“China has welcomed Armenians for hundreds of years,” said Henri Arslanian, President of the Armenian community of China. “There are many similarities between our nations and cultures. We wanted to share a taste of Armenian culture, as a way to thank our Chinese friends for welcoming us to their country.”

The Armenian Community of China, also known as ChinaHay, has been growing tremendously in recent years. Its members mainly live in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

Greece: One Port, Two Worlds: China Seeks Dominance in Athens Harbor

April 9, 2015 By administrator

By Alexander Smoltczyk

A Chinese executive with shipping company Cosco has helped transform part of Athen’s Port of Piraeus into a success story. The multinational firm now has a controversial plan to acquire the whole facility and put it on track to join the ranks of Hamburg and Rotterdam. report spiegel

One could argue that China’s long path to Piraeus, Greece, began on April 27, 1961. It’s the day Mao Zedong founded the communist state’s first freight company, the China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO). The Great Leap Forward, Mao’s plan for industrialization, had proven to be a disaster at the time, leaving millions dead or starving. With Cosco, China had its eyes on overseas markets.

Almost 54 years later, the company is steering toward a major prize in Greece. After lengthy wavering, the Greek government– comprised of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, his far-left Syriza party and the right-wing populist Independent Greeks — has announced it will be selling the majority of its share in Athens’ Piraeus Port Authority. So far, Cosco is the most promising bidder.

Throughout, Fu Cheng Qui, or “Captain Fu,” as the chief executive of Cosco’s Piraeus subsidiary is called by those who know him, will be closely monitoring the bidding process. Fu has already been in Piraeus for a long time with the company, and he is determined to stay. He has placed the bid on behalf of his company and has little doubt it will be accepted.

In his position, 65-year-old Fu is the guardian of China’s gateway to Europe. He may soon control the container piers, cruise-ship terminals and ferry quays of Greece’s biggest port.

“The government has changed four times since I have been in Greece,” Fu says. “They all always talk a lot. But what counts? Actions count. Actions! Only actions!”

On the way to the cargo port, a small sign indicates a fork in the road — with one route leading to OLP and the other to PCT. Each to a different world. Pier I belongs to the primarily Greek state-owned OLP port authority. These days, though, most trucks take the other route, to PCT, to pier II and pier III, which is run by Piraeus Container Terminal, a subsidiary of Cosco.

“Just look,” Fu says as he steps up to the window. Then the show begins. On Pier II, 11 container gantry cranes are in constant, powerful movement. All are new and made in China. Trucks move across the ground at an interval of only minutes.

Two Worlds Side by Side

A few hundred meters away, on Pier I, the dock is vacant, no ship has arrived.

So far, the Greeks and the Chinese have shared processing responsibilities for the containers of MSC, the large shipping company. But business has collapsed. Since MSC and Maersk, the two market leaders, began their 2M Alliance in January, all of the company’s containers are loaded by Cosco on Pier II. “The largest ships happen to be very large,” says Fu. “And we are simply twice as fast. We can now complete 36 container movements per hour, and time is money. Look, Pier I is almost empty. That’s very sad.”

In 2008, Cosco took over the license to operate Pier II for 30 years at a cost of €490 million ($532 million). They were later given another five years, as well as permission to build a third terminal.

Former Greek Shipping Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis claimed that the partial privatization of the Athens port had “turned out to be one of the most important and profitable investments of the past few years.”

In the span of four years, Cosco has quadrupled container traffic, to just under 3 million units a year. If all goes well, annual capacity will be expanded to 6.2 million containers in 2016. Together with Pier I, that would put it in the same league as Europe’s largest ports in Hamburg, Antwerp and Rotterdam.

The former state-owned terminal — where harbor unions formerly ruled and ancient diesel-powered pallet trucks once drove around — has been turned into a highly profitable business.

Piraeus has become the story of two worlds — that of the turbo capitalism of the successors to Mao Zedong on the one side, and a market economy that can move as slowly as a Socialist one on the other. Some people see the port as a symbol of the country’s future. It’s an image that is a horrific one for many, including a large portion of Syriza voters.

‘Cosco Go Home’

Fu has decorated his office, which is located high above the piers, in the spirit of friendship between the people. There are olive branches and peonies, a terracotta warrior and a Poseidon statue as well as models of the Parthenon and the Imperial Palace, all placed harmoniously, side by side. “We are two old cultures,” he says. “We have a good relationship with Pier I. We aren’t enemies. I have a ship master’s certificate, and I know that if a ship sails too fast, its mast breaks.”

When Fu wanted to take over Pier II in October 2009, he was welcomed to Athens by a banner emblazoned with the words “Cosco Go Home!” The Dockworkers’ Union claimed that the port was going to be taken away from the Greek people and went on a six-week strike. Some of the protesters from the time are now part of the government.

Fu was himself once a member of the Red Guard. During the Cultural Revolution, back in the 1960s, he “of course” brandished the Little Red Book: “Long live Chairman Mao! Long, long live.” He can still recite it quite well.

The manager is no stranger to these kinds of protests. “You know, I worked for 15 years in Naples, and know what strikes are. I am a Socialist,” says Fu. Does he find that word funny now? No, he says, “I can understand the workers completely. But unfortunately the workers didn’t understand us at first.”

Fu claims everybody thought he would bring in his own longshoremen, pilots and fitters from China. “I told them, no, this is your company. We are only coming with seven managers.” All construction contracts went to Greek companies, he says. “In five years, Cosco hasn’t sent a single euro back to China. Everything is being invested! New loading bridges, electric jacking systems!”

At the time, Cosco had bid far higher than market value. Every year, the company transfers approximately €30 million to the Greeks. The Athenian port authority earns more from the concession fee than from its own freight business. With the completion of the 19-meter-deep (62-foot-deep) deep-water port at Pier III, and the modernization of the crane system, Cosco will have invested half a billion euros.

China’s Foothold in Europe

But China is thinking far into the future. Piraeus is the closest port in the northern Mediterranean to the Suez Canal. From here, it can conquer the EU domestic market. Recently, three freight trains began leaving the port each week. “Those are peanuts, of course,” Fu says. “But it’s only the beginning.”

When Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang visited the port in June, Piraeus was described as China’s gateway to Europe: China’s exports could reach Germany, Hungary and Austria “between seven and 11 days” faster, he said. Huawei, the electronics conglomerate, has already opened a logistics center right at the port.

Fu says it wouldn’t be a major disaster for the company if Greece were to leave the euro zone. “We are part of the CKYHE shipping alliance,” he explains. “We have holdings in ports in Genoa and Port Said, inside and outside of the euro zone.” A Grexit would largely pose an accounting problem — at least initially.

Currently, around 1,200 Greeks work for Cosco. The company doesn’t need to pay union wages, there is no corporate training and the crane-operations staff has been reduced.

Jobs are now awarded by an agency instead of the unions. A port worker earns about €1,200 per month, which is above average for Greece, but only one-third of what wages used to me.

When asked about the unions, Fu describes them as being “superfluous!” “Every employee is like the member of a family,” he says. “Everybody works with respect for the other. We listen to what our employees say and react to it. The company is like a family. We are all brothers. Everybody is happy.”

That’s nice. But the firings, the labor disputes, the claims that employees don’t even have the time to use the bathroom? “Nonsense,” Fu says, before returning to the issue of principles.

“The union leaders promise their members more money for less work,” he says. “How is that supposed to work? If you want a higher salary you first need to work hard. Not lie on the beach and drink beer. Learn from the Germans! Work hard, never be lazy and always work seriously. Hard work — happy life.”

Political Resistance

That wasn’t exactly Syriza’s campaign platform. The week before last, Deputy Greek Prime Minister Giannis Dragasakis traveled to China and declared that his government still wants to privatize the majority of the Piraeus Port Authority. The bidding process could be complete within weeks, he said.

But a short while later, Deputy Shipping Minister Theodoros Dritsas contradicted him. Strategically important property of the state may not be privatized, he said.

“It is difficult to get a clear image. It is all — political,” Fu says, as if spitting out the word. “We can just wait and drink tea. Or coffee. In any case, I want to have this share,” he says. “In the spirit of friendship between our two countries.”

The market value of the Piraeus Port Authority currently stands at about €270 million. The passenger business and the car ferries to the Greek islands are especially lucrative. With its 18 million passengers, Piraeus is the biggest passenger port in Europe. If it is privatized, people are expecting a sale price significantly higher than its market value. Tsipras’ Syriza party itself cited a figure of €500 million to its creditors.

Aside from Cosco, which is considered the front runner, port operators from Denmark, the Philippines, the United States and the United Arab Emirates have expressed interest. If Cosco prevails, Piraeus would then be completely in Chinese hands.

Of course, back in 2008, Alexis Tsipras stood behind the protesting dock workers, with their “Cosco Go Home” message. As prime minister, though, he has to do everything he can to make Fu feel at home.

It’s one of the many dilemmas faced by Tsipras. He would like to make himself less dependent on the European Union by bringing China into Greece as an investor. But the Chinese in no way share the leftist and radical views of the Syriza government. Instead they follow Captain Fu’s dictum of “Hard work — happy life.” The more China invests, it seems, the more likely it will become that Greece’s social gains start to crumble.

A New Monopoly

A few hundred meters from Fu’s new world is the office of the Union of Dockworkers, headed by Nick Georgiou. He looks like a man who’s carried a lot of sacks, fought lots of battles and smoked too many cigarettes. He’s also a man who wouldn’t describe the conditions at Pier II as being one big happy family.

Georgiou speaks of work accidents that have been covered up, a lack of emergency vehicles, neo-Nazi members of the Golden Dawn making themselves at home on the Chinese side of the pier. But he blames the troika as being the true culprits. “The EU has wanted to push through the liberalization with the port workers,” he says. “Cosco is merely the means to an end.” Since the Chinese began running the port, the wages in the Greek-run part have gone down as well.

For his part, Georgiou doesn’t want to accept that his company, the Piraeus Port Authority, derived one-third of its income over the past year from rental fees paid by Cosco. He takes a long drag of his cigarette, before adding, “Piraeus was partly privatized back then in order to break up a monopoly. Now the rest is also supposed to be sold. Then we’ll have a monopoly again, but a Chinese one.”

Just offshore, you can see the southern tip of the Salamina Island in the haze. Fu has announced that he wants to have a repair yard built there, along several kilometers of coastline.

The ancient Greek name of the island is Salamis. This is where the biggest naval battle in Antiquity was fought between Greeks and Persians — in what would become a central event in the history of European civilization and for the power relations between the West and the East.

Armenia President holds talks in China

March 25, 2015 By administrator

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, who is on a state visit to China, on Wednesday met with President Xi Jinping.

At the end of the meeting, and as a result of the talks, the two presidents signed a joint declaration on further development and deepening of Armenia-China friendly relations of cooperation.

The parties also signed more than a dozen documents with respect to the development and strengthening of bilateral cooperation between the two countries in several domains.

Prior to his talk with Xi Jinping, however, President Sargsyan was hosted by the Beijing No.2 High School. This learning institution is considered one of the largest and technically best-equipped schools in the Chinese capital city, and it also engaged in international cooperation projects, including student exchange programs with a number of countries.

The Armenian President toured the learning facility and, subsequently, signed the school guestbook.

“I am confident that our two peoples, which have a millennia-old history, will develop and strengthen their ties and cooperation in a climate of friendship and peace,” Serzh Sargsyan specifically wrote in the guestbook.

China arrests 10 Turks for supplying fake passports to ethnic Uighurs Report

January 14, 2015 By administrator

Heavily armed Chinese paramilitary policemen march in Urumqi. (Photo: AP, Ng Han Guan)

Police in Shanghai have arrested 10 Turkish nationals suspected of supplying fake passports to ethnic Uighurs from China’s far-western region of Xinjiang who were described as “terror suspects” by state media.

Hundreds of people have been killed in resource-rich Xinjiang, strategically located on the borders of central Asia, in violence in the past two years between the Muslim Uighur people who call the region home and ethnic majority Han Chinese.

Another 11 people, including nine Xinjiang “terror suspects”, were also detained in November while trying to leave China after paying 60,000 yuan ($9,700) for altered Turkish passports, the state-run Global Times newspaper reported.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei did not elaborate on the case but told a news conference on Wednesday the report was “extremely accurate”.

“Fighting illegal immigration is a common desire of the international community and is the Chinese government’s consistent position as well as what (the government) advocates. We are willing to cooperate closely with the international community of this issue,” he said.

The Turkish embassy in Beijing did not respond to requests for information about the case.

The paper said “terrorism-related audio and video materials were found among the suspects and that some had been bound for Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

In October, Malaysian authorities detained 155 Uighurs in Kuala Lumpur who were carrying Turkish passports suspected to be fake.

Separately, authorities in Xinjiang announced that people buying fireworks for Chinese New Year would have to register using their ID cards, the China Daily reported late on Tuesday.

The move was meant to prevent “terrorists” from obtaining raw materials to make explosives, it quoted Li Jianghui, an official with Xinjiang’s work safety department, as saying.

Fireworks shops must record the variety and number of products bought by each customer, he said.

China blames “Islamist militants” from Xinjiang for attacks elsewhere in China, including Beijing. Exiled Uighur groups and human rights activists say the government’s repressive policies in Xinjiang, including controls on Islam, have provoked unrest.

A group of “mobsters” on Monday tried to set off an explosive device in a business district of Xinjiang, prompting police to shoot dead six of them, local authorities said.

China, Armenian Historical ritual in Guangzhou

January 2, 2015 By administrator

China Armenian community, after long years for the first time on December 14 in Guangzhou, came together for a ceremony at the Armenian Church.

Guangzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hong Kong and dozens of Armenians coming from other cities, was held in observance of the Bishops Haygaz Najaryan directed.

Australia and New Zealand Armenian Church Bishop, India and the entire Far East Armenian Pope Envoy Archbishop Najary that, after the last decades over the last rites performed by the Armenian community in China, China and the happiness of making ritual met the Armenians serves as the home of Hong Kong heard expressed.

At the beginning of the 19th century until the middle of the 20th century, Harbin, in cities such as Shanghai and Hong Kong, had a small but lively Armenian community. During this period, there was an Armenian church in Harbin and Shanghai, China was the center of the Armenian community. The majority of Armenians in China, in 1950, leaving the country moved to America or the Soviet Armenia.

According to Jack & Julia Maxima Hong Kong figures of the Armenian Center, today there are about 500 Armenians in China and Hong Kong.

Armenian victims of the Communist revolution in China

Armenian community in China, though very small, Armenians have a long history in this country. The first Armenians who live in China, Tsarist East China Railway began construction in 1898 by a few people in Russia was selected to run the building. The first settlements while others were Harbin.

Armenian Relief Association in 1910, established the Armenian Shanghai Club, a center was created for the Armenian immigrants in the region. Central, the invention of the Armenian community in time, wedding, turned into a social hut where activities such as baptism. In 1923, 400 Armenians living in the city of Harbin in northern China, and founded the first Armenian church in the region. Many Armenians living in the country, after the Chinese People’s Revolution in 1949, he left here and Shanghai Armenian Club was transformed into private ownership. The Armenian church in Harbin, was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution that Mao Zedong launched in the 1960s.

China slams Turkey for offer to shelter Uighurs

November 28, 2014 By administrator

BEIJING – Reuters

A motorcyclist and child ride against wind and snow in Balikun, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Turkey has offered to shelter around 200 Uighurs found in a human-smuggling camp in Thailand, irking the Chinese government. REUTERS Photo

China has lashed out at Turkey for offering shelter to roughly 200 Uighurs from the western Chinese region of Xinjiang who were rescued from a human-smuggling camp in Thailand.

Thai police found the group in March and Chinese officials identified “dozens” of them as Uighurs, a Muslim people from Xinjiang who speak a Turkic language. Many Uighurs chafe at government curbs on their culture and religion.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency on Nov. 26 reported a request by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu for Thailand to send the Uighurs there, a move that angered China, which views their move to Thailand as “illegal immigration.”

Turkey asked ‘not to meddle’

Asked for a response on Turkey’s offer, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the case was a matter for China and Thailand and “the relevant country” should stop interfering.

“We urge the relevant country to immediately stop meddling in placement work for the relevant case, be cautious with words and actions and not send out mistaken signals that connive in, and even support, illegal immigration activities,” Hua said in a faxed statement to Reuters.

“Illegal immigration activities disrupt the normal orderly flow of people internationally, harm the interests of the international community, and can harm security of the relevant countries and regions,” Hua added.

Small numbers of Uighurs trickling out of China to Southeast Asia are believed to go overland into Laos or Myanmar, before going to Thailand and elsewhere.

Turkey is home to thousands of Uighurs who have fled Xinjiang since the Chinese Communists took over the region in 1949. It has projected itself as a stable Muslim democracy, a key player at a time of turmoil and unrest in the Middle East.

“I brought the issue to the notice of the Thai foreign minister in New York and the Chinese foreign minister in Beijing as well, and told them Turkey wants to shelter those Uighurs,” Anadolu Agency cited Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu as saying.

In the past two years, hundreds of people have been killed in unrest in Xinjiang, prompting a crackdown by authorities.

November/28/2014

7 medals for Armenia at the 2nd Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing (China)

August 30, 2014 By administrator

A great performance for Armenia who won 7 medals (2 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze) at the second Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing (China), the closing ceremonies were held on August 28. The two gold medals were the work of Armenian weightlifters Hagop Mkrdtchian (77 kg) and Simon Martirosyan (85 kg) who were Olympic champions Youth. Hratchya Babayan (10m rifle shooting) and the wrestler Zaven Mikaelian (58 kg Greco-Roman wrestling) were runners-up. Nareg Manassian (boxing, 81 kg), Sarkis Hovsepian (76 kg freestyle) and Vaghinag Matevossian (76 kg freestyle) captured bronze medals.

Krikor Amirzayan

Russia, China agree currency swaps to cut dependence on U.S. dollar

August 9, 2014 By administrator

The Russian and Chinese central banks have agreed a draft currency swap agreement, which will allow them to increase trade in domestic currencies and cut the dependence on the U.S. dollar in bilateral payments, RT reported.

“The draft document between the Central Bank of Russia and the People’s Bank of China on national currency swaps has been agreed by the parties,” and is at the stage of formal approval procedures, ITAR-TASS quotes the Russian regulator’s office.

The Russian Central Bank is not giving precise details on the size of the currency swaps, nor when it will be launched. It says this will depend on demand.

According to the bank, the agreement will serve as an additional instrument for ensuring international financial stability. Also, it will offer the possibility to obtain liquidity in critical situations.

“The agreement will stimulate further development of direct trade in yuan and rubles on the domestic foreign exchange markets of Russia and China,” the Russian regulator said.

Currently, over 75 percent of payments in Russia-China trade settlements are made in U.S. dollars, according to Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper.

In early July, the Central Bank’s chairwoman Elvira Nabiullina said Moscow and Beijing were close to reaching an agreement on conducting swap operations in national currencies to boost trade. The deal was later discussed during her trip to China.

President Vladimir Putin, during his visit to Shanghai in May, said cooperation between Russian and Chinese banks was growing, and the two sides were set to continue developing the financial infrastructure.

“Work is underway to increase the amount of mutual payments in national currencies, and we intend to consider new financial instruments,” Putin said after talks with President Xi Jinping.

Later on, during his meeting with leading international news agencies on the sidelines of the St Petersburg’s economic forum, Putin said that Russia and China had made “the first modest steps” in using national currencies in international settlements. He added that the two countries were going to continue exploring opportunities for working together.

A currency swap is widely used and allows simultaneously exchanging a specific amount of one currency for another currency with two different settlement dates.

China, Iran and Russia: Restructuring the global order

May 22, 2014 By administrator

Powerful countries are alarmed by the threats against Russia as they see themselves as potential future targets.

By: Seyed Mohammad Marandi Al Jazeera,

At the Fourth Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) that opens May 20 in Shanghai, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will meet with both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Among other things, the summit will underscore how rising non-Western powers are playing ever more prominent roles on the global stage. However, Western elites remain stuck in a time warp, wherein the United States and its European partners are the imperial masters of all they survey.

In this regard, it is an interesting coincidence how mainstream Western media outlets consistently produce narratives that are almost indistinguishable from official government statements regarding countries and leaders with dissimilar worldviews from their Western counterparts. For instance, we repeatedly hear about the democratically elected “dictators” in Venezuela, yet we are assured that friendly dictators are “moderate reformers”.

Another fascinating coincidence is that Western human rights organisations pursue initiatives and policies closely aligned with those of their own governments. When the US accused the Syrian government of using chemical weapons against its own people – notwithstanding noteworthy evidence to the contrary and despite the fact that it was fine as far as Washington was concerned when former Iraqi president Saddam Hossein attacked Iran with chemical weapons – some human rights advocates stood shoulder to shoulder with President Barack Obama in advocating “shock and awe” in Damascus for humanitarian purposes.

Contrary to what Saudi Princess Basmah Bint Saud states, Amnesty International’s soft spot for Saudi Arabia may be linked to more than just oil – for this renowned organisation is a true believer in promoting human rights through liberal imperialism. Until recently, Amnesty USA was led by a former senior US government official who is a leading “humanitarian interventionist“.

On the side-lines of the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago, Amnesty International campaigned for NATO’s continued occupation of Afghanistan under the rubric, “keep the progress going”; Amnesty’s shadow summit for Afghan women was graced with the presence of none other than former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright known for commenting that over half million dead Iraqi children as a result of sanctions “was worth it”.

Generous doses of hypocrisy

It is refreshing to see such consensus at all levels of public discourse in the “Free World”. It seems that there is general agreement among European and North American elites that Western objectives are well-intentioned, even if highly generous doses of hypocrisy are administered on the way. Hence, the British foreign secretary, speaking on behalf of the so called Friends of Syria, just days ago welcomed “the fact that preparations for the presidential elections on May 25 are proceeding well” in violence-stricken Ukraine where roughly half the country rejects the Kiev-based coup regime.

Then, literally a minute later (and with a straight face), he condemned the “Assad regime’s unilateral plan to hold illegitimate presidential elections on June 3. We say in our communique that this mocks the innocent lives lost in the conflict”. Apparently there has been no significant loss of innocent life as a result of illegal cross border support for extremists and al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria over the last three years.

It is also remarkable that any perceived rival to Western power can almost immediately be compared to Adolf Hitler without raising many eyebrows. Benjamin Netanyahu and other Zionist advocates can repeatedly threaten the Iranian people with military strikes, yet simultaneously promote the false logic that the Islamic Republic wishes to create a holocaust by allegedly denying the Holocaust (whatever that means).

In recent weeks, we have once again returned to 1939 as the bizarre Hitler analogy is now being used to describe Putin. The irony here is that the right wing neo-Nazi groups within the pro-Western Kiev regime consider themselves as the Russian president’s greatest foes. Indeed, for some, al-Nusra Front, Islamic Front in Syria or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant analogy would be somewhat more appropriate to describe the Ukrainian political party, Right Sector.

Former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser was another one of many Hitlers in Western political discourse. When in 1956, he nationalised the Suez Canal, then British Prime Minister Anthony Eden viewed his actions as an insult to the British Empire. However, the “Suez moment” was a classic case of overreach for a rapidly declining empire that politicians in the US today should ponder.

Winner-take-all worldview

Their winner-take-all worldview, which has already resulted in widespread inequality and relative economic decline in the US, has also, since 2001, conditioned a series of “moments” whereby Washington’s arrogant zero-sum mentality has produced one strategic failure after another.

Obama’s pivot to Asia is viewed with scepticism, as the US already has more than it can handle in Ukraine, west Asia and North Africa. The real Asia pivot is driven by rapidly rising economies, especially China, as countries with major oil and gas reserves such as Russia, Iran and Iraq are already turning eastward.

The US government is caught in a web of self-deception if it believes that its declining global influence has gone unnoticed among the world’s rising powers. Obama’s pivot to Asia is viewed with scepticism, as the US already has more than it can handle in Ukraine, west Asia and North Africa. The real Asia pivot is driven by rapidly rising economies, especially China, as countries with major oil and gas reserves such as Russia, Iran and Iraq are already turning eastward.

In a 2012 report that some consider to be too conservative in its prognostications, the US multinational investment banking firm Goldman Sachs projects that by 2050 the US will be the only Western power among the top five global economies, with an economy much smaller than China’s. In addition, the World Bank predicts that the US dollar will lose its current global dominance in roughly a decade.

Ironically, instead of attempting to build new bridges and forging new partnerships to stall their declining global status as the balance of power shifts away from Europe and North America, Western governments unwisely antagonise key powers. Spying on the Brazilian president does not help, denying a visa to the next Indian prime minister can spell trouble ahead, giving strong warnings to China can raise tensions – but threatening Russia with economic warfare may prove to be a game changer.

Of course, the US and its allies have already engaged in inhuman economic warfare against ordinary citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The US has targeted the Iranian banking sector as well as the central bank and has threatened Iran’s trading partners with punitive sanctions if they do not abide by US laws.

Many countries have protested against these US imperial dictates, but have so far largely abided by US demands in order to avoid its aggressive behaviour. However, with threats now being made against the Russian Federation, alarm bells have begun ringing, as powerful countries see themselves as potential future targets. Economic warfare against another major power will force emerging economic powerhouses to seriously think about the future of global financial and communications systems as well as the immediate need to enhance cooperation and to restructure the global political and economic order.

During the CICA Summit in Shanghai, Presidents Xi Jinping, Rouhani and Putin definitely have a lot to talk about.

Seyed Mohammad Marandi is professor of North American Studies and dean of the Faculty of World Studies at the University of Tehran.

Russia-China ties at highest level in history – Putin

May 18, 2014 By administrator

RT Russia-China cooperation has reached its highest level ever, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said in an interview with Chinese media on the eve of his visit to Shanghai, where a record package of documents is expected to be signed by the two nations.

Below is the full transcript of the Russian president’s interview with Chinese Central Television, Xinhua news agency, China News Service, The People’s Daily, China Radio International, and Phoenix Television.

Question: What are your expectations concerning the upcoming visit to China? What results do you expect from the Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia in Shanghai?

Vladimir Putin: I am always happy to visit hospitable China. It is a pleasure to see how our neighbour is transforming right before our eyes. Shanghai is a vivid illustration of this.

Establishing closer ties with the People’s Republic of China – our trusted friend – is Russia’s unconditional foreign policy priority.

Now Russia-China cooperation is advancing to a new stage of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction. It would not be wrong to say that it has reached the highest level in all its centuries-long history.

I am looking forward to a new meeting with President of China Xi Jinping, with whom I have good working and personal relations. We will discuss how previous agreements are being implemented and outline new objectives for the future. I am sure that the upcoming talks will give a powerful impetus to further strengthening of bilateral cooperation in all areas and deeper coordination in the international arena. The summit’s results and future plans will be reflected in the Joint Statement by the Heads of State and a strong package of documents expected to be signed during the visit.

Russia and China have actively advocated establishing a new security and sustainable development architecture in the Asia-Pacific. It should be based on the principles of equality, respect for international law, indivisibility of security, non-use of force or threat of force. Today this task is becoming increasingly important. The forthcoming Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) serves to contribute to addressing this task.

CICA is a well-established cooperation mechanism. It has been successfully working in such spheres as security, new challenges and threats, economy, environmental protection and humanitarian issues, all of which are important for the region.

Russia has taken an active part in CICA’s activities. In mid-April 2014, members of the Conference approved the Statute of the CICA Business Council sponsored by Russia. I am confident that the launch of the Council will enhance practical ties between business communities of the Asian countries.

At the upcoming summit, the Secretariats of CICA and SCO are expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding. That would serve as another step towards shaping a framework of partnerships between this region’s organisations and forums.

Q: China is consistently making progress towards the “Chinese dream”, i.e. a great national rebirth. Russia has also set a goal of restoring a powerful state. How, in your opinion, could our countries interact and help each other in fulfilling these tasks? What areas can be prioritised in this regard?

VP: Promotion of friendly and good-neighbourly partnership relations is fully consistent with the interests of both Russia and China. We do not have any political issues left which could impede the enhancement of our comprehensive cooperation.

Through joint efforts, we have established a truly exemplary collaboration, which should become a model for major world powers.

It is based on respect for the fundamental interests of each other and efficient work for the benefit of the peoples of our two countries.

Russia and China successfully cooperate in the international arena and closely coordinate their steps to address international challenges and crises. Our positions on the main global and regional issues are similar or even identical.

It is encouraging that both sides are willing to further deepen their cooperation. Both Moscow and Beijing are well aware that our countries have not exhausted their potentials. We have a way to go. The priority areas of collaboration at the current stage include the expansion of economic ties and cooperation in science and high-technology sector. Such pooling of capacities is very helpful in fulfilling the tasks of domestic development of our countries.

Q: Cooperation between China and Russia has been steadily increasing, but uncertainties in global economy persist. The emerging markets are faced with new challenges and slowdown of economic growth. How can our two countries help each other to counter these challenges? How can we ensure steady increase of mutual trade and reciprocal investments?

VP: In the context of turbulent global economy, the strengthening of mutually beneficial trade and economic ties, as well as the increase of investment flows between Russia and China are of paramount importance. This is not just a crucial element of socioeconomic development of our countries, but a contribution to the efforts aimed at stabilising the entire global market.

Today, Russia firmly places China at the top of its foreign trade partners.

In 2013, the volume of bilateral trade was close to $90 billion, which is far from being the limit. We will try to increase trade turnover to $100 billion by 2015 and up to $200 billion by 2020.

Our countries successfully cooperate in the energy sector. We steadily move towards the establishment of a strategic energy alliance. A large‑scale project worth over $60 billion is underway to supply China with crude oil via the Skovorodino-Mohe pipeline.

The arrangements on export of Russian natural gas to China have been nearly finalised. Their implementation will help Russia to diversify pipeline routes for natural gas supply, and our Chinese partners to alleviate the concerns related to energy deficit and environmental security through the use of “clean” fuel.

At the same time, we are working actively to reduce dependence of bilateral trade on external market conditions. Therefore, in order to develop trade and economic cooperation we pay particular attention to the breakthrough areas such as higher energy efficiency, environmental protection, production of drugs and medical equipment, developing new information technologies, as well as nuclear energy and outer space.

We implement a list of joint projects in 40 priority areas with total investments of about $20 billion.

These areas include civil aircraft industry. An agreement has been reached on joint design of a wide-body long-range aircraft. In the future we will develop a heavy helicopter. I am sure that our companies can manufacture and supply competitive products to the world markets.

We also intend to actively develop investment cooperation, the scope of which obviously does not meet real capacities and needs of our countries yet. We have examples of successful projects. I would like to note the participation of Chinese capital in the reconstruction of an airport in the Kaluga Region and building of plants for production of automotive parts and construction materials in that Russian constituent entity.

To our mind, there are many other promising areas for investments. We can point to different branches of machine engineering, processing of agricultural products, mining operations, and development of transport and energy infrastructure.

We must also strengthen financial cooperation and protect ourselves from exchange-rate fluctuations among the world’s major currencies. Therefore, we are now considering how to increase mutual settlements in national currencies.

Q: Russia has recently announced the creation of a special economic zone in Vladivostok. What could, in your view, be the role of China in its creation and in the development of the Russian Far East as a whole?

VP: Accelerated socioeconomic development of Siberia and the Far East is one of Russia’s key national priorities for the 21^st century. We are now implementing a whole package of programmes to modernise and upgrade transport, energy and social infrastructure in these regions.

We are aiming at the creation of special areas of advanced economic development with an investment-friendly environment.

Competitive conditions for launching export-oriented enterprises in non-primary sectors have been created.

In the areas of advanced development, new companies will enjoy some substantial benefits. These are tax holidays with respect to a number of taxes and reduced insurance premium rates; liberalisation of the customs regime, including free customs zones; special rules for access to land and for connecting to infrastructure facilities.

Today, the relevant federal law is being finalised. Development institutions are being created and promising centres are being selected. One of them will probably be established in Vladivostok on Russky Island where the APEC 2012 Summit took place.

Obviously, we are interested in Chinese businessmen making use of these opportunities and becoming one of the leaders here, since both Russia and China will benefit from an accelerated development of the Russian Far East.

It is important not to limit our relations to trade. It is essential to establish strong technological and industrial alliances; attract investments to the infrastructure and energy sectors; to jointly promote scientific research and humanitarian contacts; lay a solid foundation for a sustainable long-term development of our trade and economic relations. And the Russian Far East can and must become a natural venue for the said efforts.

Q: How would you rate the present level of cooperation between our countries in the humanitarian sphere and its prospects? Which projects within the framework of reciprocal theme years (national, language, tourism, youth exchanges) have impressed you most?

VP: The humanitarian contacts between Russia and China are in keeping with the steady development of the whole complex of strategic partnership relations between our countries. At the moment, their level is as high as never before. The major projects of national, language and tourism theme years in which millions of our citizens participated, have played a significant role in that.

It is noteworthy that a number of events are now being carried out on a regular basis. These are festivals of culture, film weeks, youth sports games, student festivals, camps for schoolchildren and students, fora for university principals, exhibitions of educational services and many other events.

An intergovernmental project of the Russia-China Youth Friendly Exchanges Years planned for 2014–2015 was launched this March. The performance of the recently created Russian-Chinese philharmonic youth orchestra, headed by the artistic director and principal conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre Valery Gergiev, has become a highlight of the theme years’ launch in St Petersburg.

Of course, we are not going to settle down. The mutual interest of youth in history, culture and traditions of the peoples of China and Russia is increasing. It is an objective process, and we are committed to fully supporting it in the future.

Q: In 2015, our countries will celebrate the 70th anniversary of Victory over fascism. What is the impact of joint Russian-Chinese efforts to oppose the attempts aimed at challenging the results of World War II?

VP: It is true that the attempts to rewrite and distort history are becoming more frequent.

Four years ago Russia and China adopted a Joint Statement on the 65^th Anniversary of Victory in the Second World War.

We share an idea that it is unacceptable to revise the results of the war, as the consequences will be extremely grave.

It is clearly evident from the tragic events currently unfolding in Ukraine, where violent neo-Nazis are waging a real campaign of terror against civilians.

I would like to express my gratitude to our Chinese friends for cherishing the memory of thousands of our compatriots, who sacrificed their lives to liberate Northeast China from invaders.

Next year we will hold a range of joint events to mark the 70^th anniversary of Victory both in the bilateral and the SCO format. During these events, youth will be in the focus of our work.

We will certainly continue to oppose attempts to falsify history, heroize fascists and their accomplices, blacken the memory and reputation of heroic liberators.